Starting Anew

He studied the fine lines across his knuckles, stark againsthis pale skin.

He knew what was happening to Rose like the back of hishand.

Which begged the question, where exactly had he gotten thatscar across his thumb?

The Doctor was at MercyHospital in Cardiff, still in Pete’s World, awaiting newsof Rose….and the baby.

He sat hunched over, staring at a magazine on the coffeetable showing some movie actress with flowing blonde locks and a plastic smile.

“Rose is a much more beautiful blonde,” He thought aloud.

The silence in the tiny waiting room was deafening.

He had considered turning on the telly in the corner but hecouldn’t watch it – he was too distracted to focus on anything.

And then he felt it.

The faint tingling of another nearby.

Another of his kind.

He sat up straight.

That was impossible…..Time Lords didn’t even exist in thisuniverse.

The Doctor began to laugh hysterically.

The baby.

It was the baby.

He leaned back, sinking into the brown couch he was sittingon.

The thoughts of the child were open and unguarded as allinfant Time Lords were.

They were composed of sounds and colors flitting likebutterflies across the Doctor’s mind’s eye.

He gently responded with his own which took the form of ablue one with little tinkling bells.

Yellow curiosity and orange shock along with a loud clang cameback across the telepathic network.

He smiled gleefully and pink went to the baby accompanied bya humming.

The door opened, scattering the colors and sounds until theywere all but gone.

He looked up to see a nurse clad in white.

“Mr. Smith?”

He nodded.

“Please come with me,”

She was smiling, so it couldn’t be that bad.

He rose and followed her down the white corridors ofMercyHospital.

He sank into the network again and saw that the colors weregrowing brighter, the sounds stronger.

He gave out little pulses of green and the child responded.

He sprinted past the startled nurse who had been escortinghim.

Physicians and patients darted out of the Doctor’s way as hebolted down the hallway, skidding round the corner and running into thehospital room.

Rose looked up, startled.

She was holding a little bundle pulsating with an aura ofsound and color.

The Doctor grinned, his eyes fixed on it.

“Doctor?”

He snapped out of it, looking at Rose.

“She’s ginger.” Rose told him flatly.

Breathless, he dropped into the chair beside the bed.

“Really? Imagine that!”

Rose smiled.

He stood, looking over her shoulder.

He cautiously drew back the wrappings to see a tiny cherub’sface turned up at him.

Her eyes opened, the darkest of blues, which, he knew, wouldone day be dark brown.

He told her with his mind that he was the one who had beencommunicating to her.

And Victoriasmiled – only one hour old.

***

“Daddy, daddy, daddy! Wake up, it’s Christmas!”

The Doctor groaned and reached for the lamp beside the bed.

He switched it on to see a wild freckled face in his.

“Victoria,it’s the middle of the night…..”

Rose shifted beside him.

“What’s going on,”

The Doctor glanced over at her.

“Vicki says it’s Christmas.”

Rose pushed her self onto her elbows, looking at the pair ofthem, Victoriakneeling beside the bed, the Doctor looking ticked off and both of them had thefunniest bed-head.

“Oh does she? I suppose we’ll have to make the most of itthen, won’t we?”

Victoriagrinned and tugged on the Doctor’s arm,

“Come on, you heard her, get up!”

It was Victoria’ssixth Christmas. Growing up hadn’t been easy. From medical problems with herweak left heart to trying to fit in at school, Vicki was not the average littlegirl.

The Doctor leapt out of bed in his polka dot pajamas causingVicki to back up, a slightly fearful expression on her face.

“Well come on then, let’s go unwrap some presents!”

Victoriaran squealing from the room as the Doctor bounded behind her like an enormouschild.

The Doctor pulled ahead of her in the hallway so that he ledthe way onto the balcony, thundering down the steps to the front room.

A gigantic Christmas tree was centered right in front of thestaircase so the two Time Lords had to run round it on either side.

Vicki surprised the Doctor as she rounded the large tree andleapt upon him.

The wound up in a heap at the foot of the tree, Victoriatickling herfather as she knelt on his stomach.

“Stop it! Hee-hee, that tickles!”

His face was all scrunched up as he laughed his heart out.

“Alright, get off him or Santa will take back all youpresents,” Rose scolded Vi as she entered the room.

Victoriacast her a withering glance, “Mum, even Iknow that there’s no such thing as Santa.”

Rose smiled. Her girl was so bright.

They all settled round the tree at last as Vicki rummagedthrough the many boxes.

The Doctor was right there next to her.

“Open this one! No, this one…..no, no….THIS one.” Herambled.

She grinned as she took the box he held out to her.

It was long and slender, wrapped in blue paper.

She tore off the wrappings and opened the cardboard box.

It was a key on a long white string.

She held it up to the light of the Christmas tree.

It sparkled in the multicolor.

“It’s a key,” Victoriastated flatly.

The Doctor wrapped his long, slender hands around her tinyhand clutching the key.

“It’s a very special key.”

When he let go, Victoriagasped.

The key was glowing.

The Doctor took it from her gently and moved his hand backand forth. To the right, the key glowed brighter, to the left dimmer.

He looked at Vi.

“Ready for a game of hot and cold?”

She grinned.

Five minutes later, the three of them went out into thewinter wonderland outside.

The snow came up to Victoria’sshins.

Vicki plunged ahead, holding the key in front of her like atorch in the dark night.

They were walking across the TylerMansionbackyard. They came over a rise and there, atop a hill was an all too familiarblue box.

The light was on, glowing white hot.

Vicki clung to the key like a safety precaution, shufflingtowards it.

The Doctor behind her snapped his fingers and the doorsopened.

Warm orange light spilled onto the carpet of snow.

The T.A.R.D.I.S sensed her presence and the lights began topulse inside.

Transfixed, Victoriawandered inside, her eyes flickering from wonder to wonder in the magnificentmachine.

She could feel a presence that was caressing her very soul,fondling her emotions causing ecstasy to bubble up inside her.

Vicki restrained herself from laughing aloud.

Even at the age of six, Vicki understood that the T.A.R.D.I.S was alive….and somuch more than that……

“Hello dear.”

Victoriajumped, whirling around, brandishing her little key like a weapon.

The Doctor came in followed by Rose……

And in front of them stood a woman in a stunning blue dress.

Her eyes and hair were the color of sapphires.

It appeared that white dwarf stars were tangled in her hair,trapped there, glittering.

She was barefoot, each toenail painted blue as were thenails on her hands.

“Who are you?”

The Doctor circled the woman inquisitively. Rose backedagainst a wall, eyeing her cautiously.

“She’s the T.A.R.D.I.S,” The Doctor announced loudly.

Rose blinked, obviously confused. “I don’t…..”

The woman seemed equally confused until she nodded sharply,“That’s right,” the woman said, “You don’t remember what happened do you? Youwere…..we were….the Bad Wolf at the time, newly born.”

Vicki was still standing, holding out the key.

Her realization of the situation kicked in and she ran tothe Doctor, wrapping her tiny arms around one of his legs.

“You haven’t manifested yourself in a long time, have you?”The Doctor cocked one eyebrow.

The woman….the T.A.R.D.I.S woman…..lifted her chin, “And youhaven’t taken the time to speak to me….have you?”

The Doctor’s eyes were immediately riveted to the floor.

The woman walked forward until she was nose to nose with theDoctor.

In Rose’s mind, something clicked. Something began tofinally make sense.

As they stood there, facing one another, she realized theyappeared as twins might.

One was male and the other female yet they carried the sametraits in their facial features. The Doctor and the woman were identical.

“The T.A.R.D.I.S and I have a symbiotic bond. When I amhurt, so is she and vice versa. She thinks what I think, feels what Ifeel….etcetera, etcetera, etcetera……” The Doctor explained, as though he hadread Rose’s thoughts.

The T.A.R.D.I.S crouched by the Doctor’s feet and touchedVicki’s cheek, staring lovingly into her chocolate brown eyes.

Victoriaburied her face in the Doctor’s pant leg, unable to understand why this strangewoman was looking at her so.

“I created her,” she explained, “When you kissed the ninthregeneration of the Doctor. When he kissed you to draw the Time Vortex fromyour body, I took the opportunity to take twenty three chromosomes from each ofyou and create a fetus. The Time Lord gestation period is up to two years so Ihad plenty of time to prepare. When the time was right, the gestation period ofa human kicked in and well….you became pregnant, Rose.”

The T.A.R.D.I.S looked to Rose.

Rose stared back at the strange creature crouching by herDoctor’s feet.

The T.A.R.D.I.S turned back to Victoria who had sneakedanother peek at her.

“Oh, child, you don’t have to be afraid of me! I’m….well….letscall me your Aunt, shall we?”

She held out her arms to her.

Victoriaexplored this new person with her mind, reaching out with blood red psychictendrils.

This…..thing…..seemed safe enough. In fact, somehow sheregistered this woman as akin to her father.

Victoriaheld out her arms in response and the T.A.R.D.I.S scooped her up into herembrace.

She buried her face in her starry hair. This woman, Victoriareasoned, wasnot just akin to her father….in a way, she must be her father.

Rose circled the woman, watching her closely, as though shemight drop the child.

The T.A.R.D.I.S gently handed Victoriato the Doctor, whispered somethingin his ear and abruptly vanished from the room.

The truth of Victoria’sexistence had been revealed.

It was not, in fact, a product of the night on the moon baseas Rose, and the old Victoria,had feared.

The T.A.R.D.I.S had chosen to save the Doctor’s race…..andlater, dear reader, you will come to find that more than one species was savedthat night……..

And as for what was whispered in the Doctor’s ear?

“You must remember,the Bad Wolf can never be destroyed. Cherish every moment you have with Victoria. Silence will fall.”

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